Efforts to promote commercial development has put New Jersey at high risk for misuse of tax revenue, and has created a growing trend in which cities borrow against future growth, according to a report released today by the New Jersey Public Interest Research Group.

The report finds the state’s municipalities have strayed from the original purpose of tax-increment financing — to revitalize struggling neighborhoods — and now use the tool as an “all-purpose subsidy for developers,” Gideon Weissman, NJPIRG program associate, said in a news release.

The state has “some of the biggest potential for abuse,” because it has up to 19 sources of incremental local and state revenue that can be used financing deals, he said.

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